Mustard has been used for many years by humans for its flavoring and medicating effects. The dry mustard used in this fashion include mustard flour which is produced by milling dehulled mustard seed; mustard powder, which is produced by milling dehulled mustard seed; ground mustard, which is produced by simply grinding mustard seed without removing the hull or any other fraction in advance of the grinding process; and deheated mustard, which is used for its major component, namely protein content.
The handling of the mustard seed before and during processing can effect the outcome or the desired product. For example, in the case of U.S. Pat. No. 4,496,598, to Sakai for the preparation of mustard flour, the mustard seed is subjected to high heat in advance of grinding to deactivate the enzyme myrosinase therein, which will yield a milder flour product. In the case of mustard powder on the other hand where it is desired to maximize the flavor yielded by the enzyme myrosinase, it is obvious that the process of this earlier Sakai reference is not applicable and would not be desirable since the preservation of myrosinase will be preferred.
Preserving the maximum flavor in and extending the shelf life of a processed spice product are the main problems in this technical field. The heat generated during processing, and the presence of oil and moisture which dissolve and control the activity of the enzyme myrosinase are the major factors in maintaining the quality of the final product. In producing a mustard product, it is the goal to remove as much of the hulls and the oil as possible from the mustard seed used in advance of the milling process, and to take whatever other steps are necessary to maximize the pungency, taste, medicating effects and the percentage of other desired components in the final product.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a process for the production of improved quality mustard cake and mustard powder, by improvement of the processes and equipment currently employed in the art. The process of the present invention, a process for producing mustard cake from raw mustard seed, comprises the steps of drying the mustard seed to a starting moisture content; removing at least a portion of the hulls from the mustard seed; and producing mustard cake by expelling crude oil from the dehulled mustard seed by pressing at a temperature in the range of 45 to 55 degrees Celsius.
The dehulling of the mustard seed starts with cracking and removing some of the hulls from the mustard seed being processed.
Various pressing methods might be used in the expulsion step, including several conventional mechanical presses.
By keeping the temperature of the dehulled mustard seed below 55 degrees Celsius, and more particularly below 50 degrees Celsius, during expelling, destruction of the enzyme myrosinase can be avoided. This process will yield a high quality mustard cake with activated enzyme myrosinase sustained, enhanced pungency, flavor and improved medicating effects.
The mustard cake produced by the process of the present invention might be milled into mustard powder. Various methods might be used to process the mustard cake into mustard powder. Milling could be done at a temperature below 30 degrees Celsius in order to maximize product quality. The mustard cake might be broken up into smaller pieces in advance of the milling.
Various mustard cakes produced from different types of mustard seed, or produced in independent batches under different process parameters, might be blended to produce a qualitatively varied product. The milled mustard powder might be further cleaned to provide a finer powder product, either by sifting or other methods of removing remaining loose hulls or other impurities.
By making minor adjustments to the processing temperature or time, or oil content remaining in the mustard cake, the characteristics of the end product, mustard powder, can be altered. By blending together powder from more than one batch produced from a different variety of mustard seed or produced under different parameters, various optimized end products can be produced.